Forging a Knife from Chainsaw Chains

[@TheMotownPhilly]

Very cool. I have some chainsaw chains I've been sitting on. This was inspiring, when the weather breaks I'll get out there and try it out. 50 degrees by the way is shorts weather for people in Michigan. We are rocking 5 degrees with a minus wind chill. I'd love a 49 degree day right now 😅😅

[@JPsBladeworks]

My 49 is equivalent in Florida temp fluctuations 🤣 turn on that forge and warm yourself up

[@osirisatot19]

Very nice. Also I write in sharpie on the wood so I remember what it is, because I've also forgotten what some of my handle materials are. The black pins look great, and that pattern came out incredible.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you. I need to adopt that idea

[@APs.Custom.knives]

If you put a piece of wood under the material when you drill through it, it helps reduce the chipping from drill bits.

[@dagnard5707]

great work JP. can i suggest getting a centering punch so you dont have to use the template as a drill guide. the holes on the template will get reamed out over time even being careful. another tip. when drilling the pin holes in the scales, put a scrap piece of wood under and you wont get chip outs nearly as much. as far as the pattern, if you want more of the look of the chain. i can suggest laying them out and welding then in a flat bar and then stacking them in the canister. ok this comment was a longer one, so sorry about that.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thanks for the feedback. I should do the wood thing. I work with cabinets and its common knowledge when woodworking but my brain decides to forget those things will im in my shop vs my day job. Also dont worry about the length. I dont mind and appreciate the comments

[@twolf8222]

A great work again from you and when you explain how you making different stages is nice Greating from sweden

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you. Greetings from Florida USA

[@guyfromnj]

Nice to wake up to this on a Sunday morning.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Glad you enjoy my work

[@marty01957]

That is a Great looking knife, JP! Had to laugh at mid fifties being cold, High of 32 in central Illinois today. Keep on plugging you are doing Great!

[@charitybrown4274]

Awesome Knife!!👍

[@MarkSmith-lf6sx]

Almost gives the knife an antique look. Black pins looks good too.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Yea i much prefer the black pins vs brass now a days

[@Nobe_Oddy]

I think this came out FANTASTIC!! I LOVE how the steel right at the sharp edge is so dark.. it looks great when the whole cutting edge is jet black and the pattern starts above it... I do gfet what you're saying that the patterns can start to look the same, but I would expect that when you work it a whole bunch, you start to loose the shape of the object used.... but with chain there isn't a very defined shape, so I think chain saw chain would always turn out like this.... what if you were to make a pattern (just for example an American Flag - like placing pieces of dark and light steel look like the flag when you cut it into chunks) then lay the flag chunks out into a pattern so you see flags on the side of the blade.... I think it would be quite a lot of work and planning but it's doable, I think you for sure have the skills to do that, you just have tried somethign that ambitious yet.... - maybe start with a small pattern and incorporate into the blade to see how well you're able to keep it from distorting... make that your first challenge to yourself 🤷‍♂ :)

[@AK-ContentCreatIon]

Very nice! If it's olive you smell it immidiately during cutting , and especially when grinding 🙂

[@WWOWS]

When you are drilling through wood put another sacrificial piece piece under it, it helps prevent what we carpenters call tear-out.

[@JPsBladeworks]

I should know this already since im also a carpenter of sorts but its like my brain gets in a different mode when i work at my shop vs my day job 😅

[@WWOWS]

@ ahh hell brother the beauty of what we do, is we have an opportunity to learn something new everyday, or remember something we already learned. Lol

[@joerobilotta2199]

As always, beautiful looking knife

[@mgmcd1]

The wood looks like a spalted oak or ash. Older decayed / spalted wood will flake like that. Have you done a Damascus blade but with snips of copper throughout? I have no idea if that would work.

[@JPsBladeworks]

I havent but i do have some copper bbs on the way i plan to do a video with soon

[@rogervoyles7726]

I'm a florida boy too 55 years young from the Tampa Bay area colder the better anything is better than the hot weather

[@JPsBladeworks]

I agree. If it was up to me id be 50 to 60 year round. I like the colder weather but not when im grinding and dipping my hands in water with a fan on shooting at my back 😅

[@magnoliaslim6802]

Awesome knife!

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you

[@jasondziedzicki4232]

Sick knife bro... keep it up

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you

[@guyfromnj]

Came out real nice man.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you

[@MarsG0Dofw4r_]

This handle material looks nice, as "olive" your knives do....? 😅 Looks outstanding J.P. 🗡 👍

[@JediContrast]

I've never forged anything, which is probably why my beard never grows...I digress.. The other day however, I was actually holding a chain in my hand repairing the saw, and this thought came to me on using them to craft a blade. Then, the force worked as I slept, and when I awoke, this video popped up for my afternoon Sencha. Thanks for sharing and crafting the blade! (using green tea in your clay, or dipping it during the tempering...i wonder what different elements in these stages can do) If I were to craft one, I would segregate the higher carbon cutting steel and make it a separate billet to then wrap the rest of it around.

[@Dean_F]

Your narration is epic bro! Look I'm no youtuber but I just gotta say you have the potential to do the same as a different guy I used to watch, a blacksmith from Ukraine, he would do the asmr no talk videos to build the armor or weapons BUT he would also do narration, sometimes instructional videos as well off the same video. Anyways I just want you to keep making content, and to grow and get paid so I wanted to share the idea.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you ever since i started the narration the channel has been doing well. I wish i go on camera a bit more to make the videos a little more personable like alec does but my space is too cramped and my angles are crappy when i do that. But thats something i want to progress to so i can eplain better my thoughts and what im doing at the time vs a week later while editing.

[@waylincaraway5013]

Awesome knife bud. I really would like to get a nice chefs knife. I really like the brass pins vs the black brass

[@JPsBladeworks]

The pins i choose werent brass. They were black g10. But i like the look of the black vs the brass on most handle material.

[@varunsingh3330]

Beautiful peice bro as always...make a mosiac bowie someday

[@JPsBladeworks]

I will. I have a lot on my plate right now before the end of 2025 ill make a legendary mosaic bowie. Hold me to it. Legendary but no gold. I dont make enough for that kind of investment yet 🤣

[@DJMarcO138]

The temp in Florida is finally sane right now. Perpetual summer SUCKS!!! I was hoping we'd actually get a nasty cold snap and everything would freeze.

[@JPsBladeworks]

I dont mind the cold. I prefer it. I do mind it while dipping my hands in cold water. Now if you said why didnt i heat the water to avoid that....well i just thought of it as im typing this comment.

[@DJMarcO138]

@@JPsBladeworks every day is an opportunity to learn something new! Cheers bud!

[@davidhenderson4599]

Jp, love your work. I like how you did the seax. I wonder if you'd do some side by side performance tests of similar blades from different damascus combos, ie. 1095/ 15n20, and 1095/ L6, or O1/8670. Also, stainless damascus a stainless san mai. A D2 core, and 316 ss jacket. Keep up the good work!

[@JPsBladeworks]

Not at this time but it would be a cools video to do in the future once i have a better set up for everything and more knowledge and funding. I would definitely love to do a comparison of different steels

[@liamwescott9264]

Nice work. If you do this kind of knife again, I think it would look cool to use a used chainsaw chain. That might make a slightly different pattern than a brand new chain.

[@JPsBladeworks]

The more used the more difficult it is to get to work since it takes forever to get it clean enough. Thats why i tend to just buy new. It makes the process smoother.

[@devivoman]

The face looks like a concerned alligator!😂 sweet knife!

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thats what i was thinking 🤣

[@mattliebenau9083]

The pattern looks cool. What if you cut the sections of chain the same length as the canister and made the pattern that way?

[@JPsBladeworks]

I could do that. I have to order some more chain and ill give it a try to see what we get

[@richardbryant7972]

I cut mine in small lengths then put them in canister with core steel in middle then add powder comes out pretty neat I think.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Ill have to try that. It might be more interesting.

[@_maur89_41]

Sensacional 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thanks 🙏

[@paranoiia8]

If you get similar patterns I would try different blade shapes, and overall I think its good to try forcing on yourself making shapes that you dont do often just to see how it end up. I for example always was afraid of doing tanto, as it have those straight sharp lines that are hard to make especially when you try to make bevels on spine and lines near handle. Or better. Try doing long holes like in folding knives or deeper fullers near spine to make damascus pattern popup more.

[@JPsBladeworks]

I like doing that for a regualr damascus or maybe a mosaic piece since i do those over weeks of work. These kinds of videos i go with the same or similar shapes because it is the easiest and fastest so i can have the video done weekly. If not it would take weeks in between uploads.

[@johnweems4586]

It came out beautiful! As far as the handle steel showing, even if you did harden and temper it so it would etch the same, wouldn't it just be 3 lines since it's san mai?

[@JPsBladeworks]

The center line etches a light grey and the difference in color puts me off so i try to avoid it.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

if you wanna try to get a different pattern maybe you could do ball bearings BUT don't forge it any more than you NEED TO.... this way you can try to keep the circular shape of the bearings as much as possible and you'd und up with a bubble-like pattern..... AND if you know how the different types of steel turn out after the ferric chloride, maybe you can use 2 or 3 different types of steel bearings so that the "bubbles" come out in different shades.... you could also do a mix of bearing sizes too :)

[@BridgeTrollForge]

Aaayyyy! OBM Gang!

[@JPsBladeworks]

Its a great product at a great price.

[@huntrezz01]

Chainsaw chain , bike chain pins & ball bearings = plz make a video on this one, im intrigued to see the result

[@JPsBladeworks]

Ill write them down

[@dtruman123]

Very nice

[@JPsBladeworks]

Thank you

[@MikeMiguelPimentel]

Nice build what city/town/village in Florida do you work out of

[@JPsBladeworks]

Im out of central florida

[@ericbrack4546]

Why San Mai? Also, I wonder how random cuts of something like bicycle gears with bike chain would look 🤔 . Or even motorcycle gear/chain combo 🤷

[@JPsBladeworks]

I always do sanmai because there is no guarantee that the steel im using will be a good edge steel. So to make sure its a quality piece i use sanmai.

[@Thiantrus]

Nice, as you like to use random stuff, why not take all the offcuts and put them together and make something.

[@JPsBladeworks]

Im saving them for just that case.

[@TonyLoman-hb3cr]

People always make chef knifes but you never see anyone make a paring knife a little knife to peel taters or veggies I think it would be pretty cool to see a matching set a chef knife and a pairing knife maybe nobody else uses a paring knife maybe that's why no one makes them

[@JPsBladeworks]

I tend to go with a chef knife beacuse of the amount of material and time. It would take me too long to make a set for the video. But i did forge a pairing knive out of 1085 that i will have a video about soon.

[@APs.Custom.knives]

Is the discord only available to Patreons?

[@JPsBladeworks]

Yes at the moment. Im considering changing it so we can get more people on there though.

[@APs.Custom.knives]

@JPsBladeworks I'd join in a heart beat. If I wasn't making knives myself I'd be a patreon but as is I spend every extra penny on making more knives lol.

[@nathandrouin4730]

The wood looks like cumaru to me

[@StefanMArndt]

That pattern looks like gorilla faces on the right side, and like demon/ghost faces on the other. crazy.

[@LorisSawmill]

15:15 If you have to push the wood through at angle to get a straight cut, You're doing it wrong. I can see the blade warping while you cut. LOWER THE VERTICAL BLADE GUIDE! RTFM for your band saw. 1/4" to 3/8" above the work piece.

[@JPsBladeworks]

This is a portaband. It has no verticle guard.

[@AlexanderChurchill]

👍👍👍

[@JPsBladeworks]

👍👍👍

[@Chris-xn5mo]

Looks like the handle is definitely olive wood

[@JPsBladeworks]

Im thinking it is. I remember seeing it online and saying why not. Id have to go look at my previous orders to find out

[@Chris-xn5mo]

@ olive wood is amazing when finished properly. It is, as you mentioned though, notoriously hard to work with. Great job!

[@1sgsmith1]

I've never forged anything. I've only seen it done on Forged In Fire. The judges always frown on people "working cold steel". It looks to me like you're hammering the steel after it's cooled down too much. Am I wrong?

[@JPsBladeworks]

Yes. The steel is still hot. Its just not visible. If i were to turn of the lights the red color would be visible. Neil Kamimura does a good job showing this in one of his forging videos.

[@1sgsmith1]

@@JPsBladeworks thanks for the clarification and the reply!

[@Frie_Jemi]

Handle material looks like walnut to me

[@JPsBladeworks]

I dont think it is. Ive work with plenty of walnut and it doesnt look like any walnut ive ever seen.

[@elmira-nq4uj]

Alat kerjanya pro sayang hasilnya kurang rapih

[@JPsBladeworks]

Its okay